Chronicles of a Diabetic Imprintee
by mariposablossom
Summary: Lunchbox with snacks. Check. Insulin and needles. Done. Glucometer and strips. Always. Emergency gluco-shot. Of course. Werewolf boyfriend. Obviou – wait a sec, how did that get there?
1. Girl Without a Name

Chapter 1: Girl Without a Name

"Seth Clearwater, if you don't get your lycanthropic rear end downstairs in the next five seconds Aunt Emily will serve mine for dinner to a pack of ravenous wolves!"

The aforementioned Seth Clearwater groaned in response to this. He was dead tired from running patrol each night for the last few days without any real rest, even the mention of food managed to just barely rouse from him sleep. The boy brought his eyes to the alarm clock on the nightstand a few inches away from the bed, informing him that it was currently 7:18 in the evening.

_It's not even close to the time that Emily said the party would start_, thought Seth drowsily, _still have time for a couple more snoozes…_

Seth closed his eyes, ready to slip into dreamland again. He could feel his consciousness slither away in sweet surrender until a bang of the door slamming open startled him awake.

"Wakey, wakey eggs and bakey! Well actually in this case it's more like Emily's steaky but you get the picture," announced a painfully cheerful voice.

Sitting up on the bed, he rubbed his eyes in hopes of erasing the tiredness out of them, then proceeding to send a glare to the girl standing in the middle of doorway.

The girl stuck her tongue out and said, "Don't give me that look. It was either me or Jake, and who would have been more likely to drop kick your ass down the stairs? FYI, Sky's just about ready to strangle you, just so you know." Short dark hair, amber brown eyes with a sneaky glint sparkling; Taranee Redwood was her name, sweet mischief her terrifying game. The tall girl proceeded to grab Seth by the arm, dragging him out of bed right outside the bedroom.

"Get off me, Tara," mumbled Seth sleepily, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the door on his way out. Why did she have to be so annoyingly perky at this moment? All he wanted to do was go back to his cousin's room and sleep the night away, forgetting all about some party gathering thing that Emily had arranged for half of La Push.

Tara shrugged her shoulders, "If you say so Sethie, dear. Just stay here a moment then."

Seth stared after her groggily; momentarily suspicious with the too-innocent tone of voice she had just given him. Even with only five percent of his brain cells awake he knew his friend was anything but innocent, before he could pursue the train of thought, sleep shut him down. If only he had paid more attention to what his extraordinary hearing was trying to send to his brain, he could have avoided the start of an uneventful evening.

"In your face with some H20 motherfu-"

Before said sentence could be finished, Seth found himself being sprayed with water from all directions, instantly forcing him out of his stupor. In the end the only things left at the scene of the crime were six laughing werewolves with six NERF super soakers, and a very awake, extremely furious, soaked to the skin Seth Clearwater.

"TAARRAAAA!"

"Wasn't me!"

* * *

><p>After evidence of the dirty deed had all been cleaned up by the culprits, and the now calm Seth had dried and changed clothes, he headed down the stairs for the shindig currently in full swing that awaited him. Unfortunately he ran into the source that originally awoke him from his slumber at the bottom of the steps, foot tapping, arms crossed, not moving an inch.<p>

"Err, hello Sky?" He intended it as a statement but came out more sounding like a nervous question.

"You look like shit," was her sweet response.

Before he could rant off to her that it was her fault for waking him up too early in the first place, she was saved by entrance of Tara.

She nudged the girl on the side playfully and said, "Watch your mouth Skylar darling, daddy dearest might hear you and take you back to the Makah rez."

"My father won't be here for another hour and frankly I could care less right now if he was. Seth could do with a couple of curse words flung upon him," she tried to skewer him with her brown eyes, "and maybe a hit or two from Collin if I feel like it."

Seth struggled to remember why his cousin could be so mad with him at the moment but his mind came up with blank. Wait a moment. _Aw, crap…now I remember._

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and tried not to look at her in the eyes too long as he apologized, "I'm sorry Sky, but pack duties have worn me out dead."

"Apparently they've worn out your brain cells also," she muttered to herself.

Seth sighed in relief, relaxing his stance at having avoided conflict with family. Just as he made a move to walk past her and follow the aromatic scent of steak in the kitchen she rapidly grabbed his arm, preventing him from leaving. Granted he could have easily shaken her off, but Skylar wasn't exactly athletic much less sturdy enough to not have her wrist sprained at the movement.

"Apology not accepted! You were supposed to help me and Auntie Emily today with all the stuff for the party! I had to run down and drop off Claire and Nate at Quil's so they wouldn't mess with Aunt Emily while she started the cooking, grab some ingredients that Uncle Sam forgot to pick up at the supply store, and…and…and a whole hell lot of stuff that I can't remember right now because I'm too livid with you!"

Skylar breathed heavily as she let out all her anger in one breath and a torrent of words. Meanwhile Seth looked for anyone that could save him from Skylar's wrath, but it seemed that everyone else was smart enough to stay clear from the scene, along with Tara who had slipped away without anyone noticing, as per usual. It seemed that there was only one thing left to do before she caught her breath again.

He pulled her to him and hugged her.

"Not working, Seth," said Skylar in a muffled voice considering she was sandwiched against his chest and arms.

She pulled herself away from him, keeping her gaze to the floor, bangs covering her eyes. That still didn't stop Seth from seeing a tear fall to the floor.

"Are you crying," asked Seth, bewildered at thought of his usually calm and collected cousin close to breaking down.

"No," she huffed, turning away from him. "I'm just tired, worn out, exhausted, and on my monthly."

"Sky… way too much information."

Taking a deep breath, rubbing the tears out of her eyes, and fixing her mussed up braid, she quietly said without looking at him, "I'm sorry for snapping at you Seth, but next time I let you sleep for a while, remember to put an alarm. Aunt Em's a drill sergeant; I swear she was going to call me maggot at one point."

Chuckling at her words, he gave her a smile, one that she returned. One mess was averted this evening, now, to confront Tara.

* * *

><p>"You were just as deep as me in this prank, Brady! How come you didn't have to sit through Seth's lecture; I swear he was about to go wolfy ass on me and ruin his good clothes," harrumphed Tara as she took an angry swig from her soda as she stood next to Brady.<p>

Brady laughed at her as he tried to eat his food without choking on it. "It was your idea, oh smart one."

She punched his shoulder, causing him to spill his steak and rice on the floor. Brady groaned and headed back inside the house for more food.

"That's your fifth plate, so don't be complaining. Wouldn't want to have an out-of-shape wolf on our hands," she smirked.

"Screw you, Tara." With those kind words Brady walked out of the girl's sight.

Tara was all alone by the drinks table now. A feeling of abandonment greeted her like an old friend as she watched groups of people around her stuck in their own conversations. She had a mind to follow Brady into the kitchen and grab herself another plate until she heard Emily's voice say, "Is this your daughter, Evan? Why she looks like a lovely mix between you and her mother."

"Thank you ma'am," responded a quiet voice, accented from some place she couldn't recognize.

Tara turned towards the source of the voice and saw Emily talking with a middle-aged man, alongside him was a teenage girl. She looked younger than Tara, what with her short stature, frail-looking frame, and baby face. _Then again, almost everyone my age looks younger than me_, she thought.

It seemed Tara's boredom was solved; the girl was walking away from her father towards one of the empty tables, perfect chance to corner her.

She approached the girl who was setting down what looked like a fancy lunchbox and a messenger bag on the table and swiftly sat on the other chair without asking.

"Hey midget girl, wanna grab some food in the kitchen?"

The "midget girl" looked startled and stared at her as if she had mutated in front the girl. Tara chuckled inwardly at that thought.

"I'm sorry, is this table taken already?" She grabbed her things and proceeded to walk away, but Tara grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving. This caused the girl's grip to loosen on her bags, spilling them on the floor.

With more speed than Tara thought possible, the girl re-packed her bags before she could get a good chance to look at the loot she had stored in them.

"Whoopsie daisy, sometimes I don't know my own strength. Sorry 'bout that…uh, you okay there?"

Tara noticed the panicky look in the girl's eyes as she looked at anything but Tara, biting her lip nervously. The girl responded with forced laughter, "Yeah, I'm good. I just have some stuff in my bag… that not everyone can see."

This Tara could understand. "Ah, okay, girl stuff to hide, huh? Maybe you should meet up with Skylar later, you'd already have something in common to talk about," she laughed.

"Umm, yeah…okay," finished the girl lamely. Again she fidgeted with the bags she was carrying, making sure the latch that held them closed was secured tightly.

_Awkward_, thought Tara.

Deciding to break the silence she said, "Name's Taranee with a double E at the end, but save yourself the trouble and call me Tara."

The girl gave her a hesitant smile, extending her hand to shake Tara's. "I'm…"

But who she was Tara wouldn't find out until later since precisely at that moment the wristwatch on the girl's arm decided to start beeping.

Girl without a name yanked her hand away from Tara's and looked at the time with wide eyes. "S-sorry, I've really got to go. Nice meeting you Tara!"

And with that rushed farewell mystery girl ran full sprint ahead out of her sight, leaving Tara alone yet again. Tara slumped back on her chair and sighed, so much for the company. Her moping was quickly ended by Seth joining her at the table.

"Who was that running away," he inquired, "and what'd you do to her?"

Tara gave him a look, but decided to shrug it off. "Girl without a name."

Seth gave her a questioning look.

"Didn't catch her name, but she was a weird chick all right, and that's coming from me," observed Tara as she leaned back and lifted her feet on the table wondering what exactly had been up with her.

Seth snorted, "That's deep."

"Oh shut up. So anyways, what brings you here? Didn't think Sky would let you go without making it up to her or that Border Collie would let you get away with making her cry. I could smell the tears all the way from here."

"Nah, it's all good between Skylar and me. Collin just freaked out for five seconds until he saw that she was happy enough," he responded, but it suddenly seemed that his mind was at a faraway place.

A sudden pain on his forehead broke him out of his reverie. "Did you just flick my forehead?"

"Okay space cadet, I know you didn't come here to chat me up, especially after my beautifully executed prank. What brings you here when Captain, First Mate, Embry, and Quil are over yonder fifteen feet away from us?"

Tara peered at him curiously; awaiting his answer while Seth leaned back, hands behind his head, looking after the direction that mystery girl had run towards.

"Don't know, just felt like I had to be here, a pull I guess."

Tara rolled her eyes. Tomorrow was most definitely going to be an interesting Monday; she had a feeling Girl without a name wouldn't remain nameless for too long.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

For the record, I know I don't Twilight (good, I'd be embarrassed if I did). This "disclaimer" stands for the rest of the story, because there's no need to be doing this every single chapter. Understood? Good.

First of all, English is NOT my first language, so please tell me when (not if) I make mistakes.

So…what's your opinion on the idea of the story? Any particular scenes or lines that made you laugh? What characters interest you? Really, just tell me what I did wrong and/or what you liked.

Sincerely,

_ThatOne_


	2. Those Red Circles

Chapter 2: Those Red Circles

* * *

><p>"Kitten."<p>

Gentle hands shook her, trying to wake her up in vain. _No_, she thought, _I'm having a perfectly good dream._ She tried to hold on to her slumber, tried to resist being pulled away from the land of dreams.

"Tabby-Kat, it's your first day of school."

_Go away_.

"Kitten, it's almost seven in the morning. Time to eat and, well, you know the rest," the voice sighed, suddenly ancient with worry.

That woke her up immediately. She shot forward, sitting up straight on her bed, giving her a headache from the swift movement.

"Damn it," she said, holding her head in her hands.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything from your emergency kit? Tabitha, are you dizzy?"

Tabitha groaned again, "I'm good, everything's fine, just moved my head too fast." She smoothed her expression and gave her dad a grudging smile. "_Estoy bien, Papi_." She looked at her father with a sad look on her face as he rummaged through her bag, looking for the supplies she needed at the moment.

She observed the crease his brow as it crinkled with worry, how he bit his lip when he was anxious – a habit she'd inherited from him. Were those worry lines already imprinted on his forehead? God, he was in his mid-thirties, he was young. Maybe she should have stayed with her mom after all. Three days and her dad had already started to age before her eyes.

Her thoughts were broken by the sensation of a package being thrown onto her lap. Tabitha stared at the small blue medical kit case before her, how she wished it would disappear along with the reason for her owning it in the first place. _It's been months Tabitha, almost half a year, get over yourself and go with it._

"I'll be downstairs, kitten. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Three quarters of a cup of dry cereal, eight ounces of low fat milk, a small apple, a slice of cheese, that'll be all, _gracias_," she answered, giving her dad a smirk in the process.

Her dad blinked at the detailed request, "I'll eventually get used to this." He ruffled the loosely curled hair she'd inherited from him, "I promise. See you in a few; don't pass out on the bed, please."

He was met with a pillow to the face in response.

Laughing, because all he could was laugh in order not to let the morning start on a heavy note, he left the room off to play chef.

Tabitha's spirits lifted as she heard the sound and sunk again when she glared at the torture devices, as she liked to call them, that lay on her lap.

_Let's get down to business._

"Let me drive you to school today, Tabitha."

* * *

><p>"Quileute Tribal School is only a short distance away from here. I can walk, or ride my bike, <em>caramba<em>, I can even ride Michael's old skateboard if it's still here gathering up dust."

"It's your first day. Your mom will have my head if something happens so quickly. In fact I'll give her my head if I let something happen to you," countered her dad standing in the middle of the doorway leading onto the lawn, blocking her path.

Tabitha resisted the urge to stomp her foot on the floor in irritation like one of her little brothers when they had their temper tantrums.

"You promised that you weren't going to act like _mami_. I wanted a little bit of freedom when I got here," countered Tabitha, crossing her arms indignantly in the process, "Do I look see-through? Last time I checked I wasn't made of glass."

Evan Greyson pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Watch your tone, young lady. One week, it won't be the rest of the year."

Tabitha pressed her lips together, narrowing her eyes; arms crossed, deep in thought, "Compromise."

"Three days, no less."

"Deal."

As soon as the word left her mouth, she grimaced. This she could work with, lately her life was founded on deals and compromise, and one more wouldn't hurt. _Well, at least no more than usual._

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you Border Collie, I have a strange feeling about this girl."<p>

"What's so strange about running away from you? The only thing that keeps me tied to you is that you're my cousin."

Tara slammed her locker shut, proceeding to throw a stick her tongue out at Collin. "Well I guess it sucks for you that you're stuck having a locker next to me, the fun-loving cousin, instead of your uptight girlfriend."

"She is not uptight!"

The only response Tara had was a raised eyebrow and a withering look. Collin threw his hands up in the air in defeat and sighed.

"Okay, maybe a little, but that doesn't stop me from loving her," defended Collin, getting that dazed look that wolves did when they spoke about their imprints.

"Oh, take your sap somewhere else before I gag."

Before the boy could retort, a pair of arms wrapping around his waist interrupted him. He turned around with a face-splitting smile on his face, instinctively knowing it was the one person who could make him happiest.

Tara felt a little sick looking at them, as she usually did when witnessing imprint couples display affection. The people closest to her were continually being driven away from her by finding their "soul mate" throughout the last few years. She turned her face away as Collin bent down to give his girlfriend a swift kiss on the lips.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth a little," she said, motioning throwing up inside her backpack. Collin backed away slightly from his girlfriend, all the while keeping contact with her by taking a hold of her hand. He gave her a sheepish look, but it was hard to ignore the wildly happy look in his eyes.

Tara groaned inwardly, _Ugh, I'm turning into Leah._ "Never mind, you can do the dirty in the hallway for all I care, although I do miss the days when you were much more of a prude, Skylar dear."

Skylar gave her an innocent smile, "Why only have your influences to blame." She snapped her fingers, remembering something at that moment, "Before I forget, we have a new student, a girl I think, in our grade arriving today."

"Ha, I found about the new girl before you! I saw her yesterday. Are you sure she's a junior like us? She looked kind of, I don't know, young."

The girl shrugged in response, "She's the only one Ms. Carroway mentioned. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to show her around when she gets here, better leave now and meet her at the office." Giving Collin a quick kiss on the cheek, she scampered off to her duties.

After Skylar was out of sight, Tara turned towards Collin who had a small smile on his face as he watched her leave. "You just had to imprint on the single most goody-two-shoes girl I've ever met. She's like a Native American Hermione minus the wildly curly hair."

Collin gave her a mischievous grin, "You know what they say about good girls."

"Gag me please."

* * *

><p>"Are you Tabitha K. Greyson-Velasquez?"<p>

"_Si,_ I mean, yes Miss…"

"Carroway," the young secretary at the desk answered. "You must be Evan Greyson's daughter. I absolutely love his art; one of his paintings hangs on my kitchen wall."

Tabitha gave her a small smile, "I take it his last gallery in Port Angeles was a success?" She felt a surge of pride rise in her chest for her dad. Her aunt had been raving about how he was making the family and the whole of La Push proud to her the night that she arrived. She'd thought Tia Cassie had been exaggerating but apparently he really was known a bit around these parts. The thought fueled her desire to follow her own dreams too.

"-and this is the lovely Ms. Skylar Young. She'll be happily showing you around a bit before classes begin."

She quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and focused on the matter at hand, practically hearing her mother's voice in her head reprimanding her, _don't be a dreamer like your father, Tabitha, focus. _Tabitha shut up the mom-voice in her head.

Tabitha took a look at the girl in front of her who was currently examining a stack of papers in her hand. The girl, apparently called Skylar, had long braided black hair adorned with a headband, not a single hair out of place. She had big light brown eyes with a slight slant in the corners to them and the coppery skin that prevailed throughout the residents of the reservation. Skylar was wearing a pleated skirt, a collared button-down shirt, Mary-Jane shoes coupled with knee high socks. The style struck her as being very studious school-girl.

The girl finished shifting the papers, turning around to face Tabitha. She stretched out her hand to shake Tabitha's saying, "Good morning Ms. Greyson. Welcome to Quileute Tribal School, I'll be your guide to the school for the next few days. I'm also filling in for the Vice President of our class for now as he's sick with the flu; he sends his apologies since he was the one who was supposed to be here."

"You can call me Tabitha. Uhmm, I'm glad to be here, Skylar," hesitantly returning the handshake. _You have no idea how ecstatic I am to be here actually._

Skylar gave her a bright smile, "All right then. I have here your schedule, your locker number, and a map of the school which I hope you don't mind if I already marked the places of importance." She leaned over a bit forward and pointed out with a flourish of her hand, "The places circled in blue are your classes, your locker is the one circled in green."

She looked at the map closely in confusion, "What are the red circles?"

Skylar gave her a sweet smile that contrasted greatly with mischievous glint in her eyes, "Those are the bathrooms, just in case you have a case of first day jitter-induced diarrhea."

She laughed heartily in response. At that moment, Tabitha decided she liked the preppy girl, considering there seemed to be a hidden layer of naughtiness behind the "I'm-a-good-girl-favored-by-the-faculty-here" frontage she had going on.

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

><p><em>Estoy bien, papi.<em> = I'm fine, dad.

_Mami _= mom/mum

_Si _= yes (What? Some people might not know.)

_Caramba_ = slang, cleaner version of another word; think "dang," "darn," or "shoot" except heavier

So…penny for your thoughts?

What do ya think of the characters introduced so far? Bear in mind their quirks and personalities; Tabitha isn't the only important character here nor the only one with a story to tell.

Review if you liked it and tell me what you liked. Review if you didn't and tell me what you think could have gone better. It's my first story, so I know I've got _plenty_ to learn.

Do the little bits of Spanish bother you? Are you cool with me leaving the translations on the bottom?

Ideas, predictions, and suggestions are also welcome!

Oh, and thanks for the review (if they're not anonymous I'll reply), alerts, and favorites! I squealed like a giddy school girl when the hit count went over 100 :D

_Simply,_

_ThatOne_


	3. Two Words

Chapter 3: Two Words

"There's an empty seat next to Mr. Littlesea over in the back, Ms. Greyson."

The teacher directed her to an impossibly tall, muscular boy who raised his hand. _She should have just said, hey, go to the kid who looks like he's on 'roids over there. He sure as hell doesn't look like he could crush you with his fist._

Collin laughed to himself as the new girl walked his way. She was apprehensively hugging a backpack close to her as she headed her way through to him, looking straight ahead in order to avoid the stares her newfound classmates were giving her.

_Tara was right; she's a tiny little thing._ "Hey there, welcome to the awesomeness that is Intro to Music. The name's Collin."

The girl eyed him nervously before answering, "Tabitha. Good to be here." She was still standing next to the empty seats beside him, a panicky expression on her face, as if she didn't know how to continue from there on.

"Feel free to take a seat." She set down her pack and slowly sat down in the desk in front of him.

Collin analyzed the girl; he wondered what Tara was talking about when she said she sensed something strange from her. She just seemed to suffer a little from chronic shyness.

After that thought, he backtracked a bit. Now that he realized, there was something odd. He had an imprint, which meant most girls appeared kind of fuzzy when he looked at them directly; the only exceptions were his own imprint, family, fellow female pack members, girls in pain, and other imprints like Claire. This girl, Tabitha, while she wasn't quite yet clear, did not have the blurriness that he faced when interacting with other girls like her in school. Maybe there was something wrong with her?

"Is there something wrong, Collin?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You seemed…distracted by something."

He mentally shook himself awake; he must have kept on staring in her direction while he was thinking. "Oh, uh, sorry, just kind of spaced out while thinking about something."

She chuckled and shook her head, "No worries, I tend to be a daydreamer myself." Tabitha timidly pulled back a curl behind her ear, looking away from him.

"Well, I guess our third member is going to have a hard time keeping us from dozing off class."

"Third member?" she asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

"She's my girlfriend, but she's busy this period with some student government activities she's working on right now," he said with a proud tone in his voice.

Tabitha smiled inwardly at the faraway look he got on his face as he started talking about his girlfriend. She'd never seen any male, least of all a teenage boy, have such an adoring look in his eyes when they talked about their significant other. It baffled her, especially considering her jaded view on love. _I hope they turn out to be one of those rare couples that last way beyond high school, and not anything like my parents._ She wished mightily with all her heart to the powers that be as she touched the choker on her neck for extra luck.

"What's that you're holding on to?" he said, pointing to her choker. She looked down at the pale pink heart dangling from a thin chain.

"It was a present from my brother, well, one of the three anyway. He likes buying weird stuff like this, gifts with meaning, he says." She smiled as the memory came to mind.

Collin thought the new girl looked a lot better when she smiled. It seemed she was finally opening up. "So what's the meaning behind that? Is it some kind of love charm witch-y thing? Looking to get a little lucky in love?" he teased.

A flush of pink managed to show through her tanned skin, "No, nothing like that! _Ay Dios mio_, it's rose quartz, for emotional health and inner peace, crazy stuff like that." She noticed that Collin was giving her a look. "Not that I believe in any of that, I think it's mostly symbolic anyways."

"Are you a troubled sort of person, then?" He said it a joking manner, but he was secretly wondering if that was why he could see her almost clearly.

She stiffened at his question, her voice was still quiet but it had taken a slight icy quality as she replied, "Not mentally, no."

_Insert awkward silence here, why can't Sky be here at a moment like this?_

Thankfully the teacher soon retrieved Tabitha in order to show her what they would be working on for the rest of the semester and how the music class worked. An unbearable silence had been avoided, but he wondered what the new girl had meant. Not mentally? He'd have to ask Sky about that later. Soon Tabitha was back in her seat; she had an apologetic look on her face as she slumped in her seat, avoiding meeting his gaze.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you earlier, I just," she paused, contemplating how to phrase her words without giving anything away. "I've been going through a rough patch lately."

That must be why he could sort of see her. He'd half been wondering if she would be the next person to join the pack, but it didn't seem that way anymore, not that she looked like she'd been through a growth spurt lately.

"No worries. Besides, this is music class, the perfect class to relax and enjoy the sweet satisfaction of creating art through sound." He held up his fist. "So, are we cool?"

She eyed his gigantic fist warily. They had just met yet he was being extraordinarily nice but she hesitantly bumped his in return, "We're cool."

Tabitha spent the rest of the class chatting about music with Collin; opening up a bit more as time went by, joking a little more freely. Apparently he played the guitar and even had a pretty good singing voice, which he mostly used to woo his girlfriend rather than a crowd of people. She confessed to him that she didn't know how to play any instruments but she liked to dance and sing for fun when she was alone or with close family and friends. Unfortunately she realized that the remainder of the class flew by too rapidly for her liking. After the class was over, she walked to the next with her heart a little lighter. The first day had barely started and she already had two people she could look forward talking to. Maybe she wouldn't need to run to the bathrooms circled in red after all.

* * *

><p>"Open Sesame!"<p>

"I take it you're having problems with your locker?"

"_Ay, caramba!" _Tabitha held her hand to her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. She turned around to face the culprit only to find the same tall girl she had run off from the night before, "What are you, a ghost? I never heard you coming and the hallway is empty; who the hell sneaks up on people like that anyway?" She was breathing heavily, trying to recover from the scare and it certainly didn't help that she was a person who spooked easily; which probably explained her rudeness.

The girl, Tara she remembered, had a mischievous grin on her face. "So the midget actually does speak, and she has spunk."

Tabitha sent her a glare. _This girl has some nerve._

"Don't look at me like that, I'm the only who can help you right now." Tara moved the shorter girl aside and analyzed the locker. "What's your lock code?"

"I'm not telling _you_ my lock code."

"Uh huh, like that's gonna stop me." Tara held her ear against the locker door, turning the dial a bit only to stand back with a satisfied look on her face. She pounded the locker on each side of the lock and watched Tabitha's mouth dropped in amazement as the door swung open.

"You might not want to put any valuables in there."

Tara smirked; it looked like the girl was torn between thanking her and warning Tara to stay away from her stuff.

"I'll pretend you were grateful and said thanks. So anyways, what'd you think of Mrs. Hundley? Hasn't she gone to the craziest places?"

"You're in second period World History?" Tabitha struggled to remember seeing Tara there, but all the students in that class seemed to blur together. Then again, it shouldn't have been a surprise; each grade was so small that each year shared most core classes.

"Yep-a-rooni! There are other people that'd you like to meet in that class too – which you would have met if you hadn't been so antisocial – but they're not as awesome as I am," she said in a sing-song voice all the while throwing her hands in the air.

"I'm sure." Tabitha found herself laughing in spite of herself. The girl was amusing, she'd give her that and she seemed friendly enough despite the fact she might have thieving tendencies.

"You dare question my awesomeness? What's your name girl-who-doubts-obvious-awesomeness?" she said while pointing an accusatory finger at her.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow, and she thought she herself had outrageous mood swings. "Umm, no, but I guess I'll be seeing you then. Don't want to be late to Honors English." She placed her World History textbook inside her locker and quickly high-tailed it out of there towards her next class before the weird girl started acting even stranger.

She looked over her shoulder, yelling as she left, "Thanks for the locker voodoo magic!"

"Over here, Tabitha!"

* * *

><p>She had been standing in the doorway of the classroom, wondering if she was at the correct one, until she heard a familiar voice call her name. She hurried over to where Skylar was sitting and sat next to her, it appeared the teacher hadn't arrived yet so she sat wherever she wanted. Tabitha scanned the room, registering that this class was most definitely not filled to the brim with juniors.<p>

"Is this Honors English?"

"Yes, but you could also call it Twelfth Grade English if you want to be technical. QTS can't really afford to hire that many teachers, so most of the time an Honors class just means advancing a grade level for that particular subject." Skylar shrugged, as if to say, 'What can you do?'

Tabitha didn't answer, just nodded absently; there was something about this class that was driving her over the edge. Maybe it was due to the fact that she was surrounded by students older than her; she did feel a little intimidated.

Skylar looked at her worriedly, "Are you okay? You seem kind of antsy; you keep tapping your fingers on the desk repeatedly."

Antsy? She looked at the time on her wristwatch, it read 11:07. She didn't feel hungry or anything of the sort, no shaking of the limbs or palpitations which meant there was less of a chance of it being a sugar low. _I ate my snack an hour ago, I should be fine._ She did feel anxious for some reason, like something was tugging at her heartstrings, the same sensation she had last night when she had ran off from Tara, only more intense.

"Do I? Maybe it's the first day jitters you were talking about." She struggled to keep her hands still, but it seemed impossible. What was up with the teacher? Why couldn't he or she get here and distract her already?

Skylar grinned like the Cheshire cat, "There's always the bathroom down the corridor if you need it."

Tabitha gave her a small smile distractedly muttering inwardly, "Good to know." Damn it, she needed to distract herself, badly. She reached for her backpack, rummaging through her belongings. _Let's see, read a book or grab my sketchbook. Hmm, sketchbook, I need to do something with my hands._

Skylar had been watching curiously and widened her eyes as she saw Tabitha take out a sketchbook and a pencil.

"You draw?"

"I'm an arts kind of girl," she bit her lip nervously as she peered at Skylar's excited face, "so yeah, kind of following in my dad's footsteps, since he's an artist himself."

Skylar snapped her fingers, "Greyson, I should have known, your father's Evan Greyson, right?"

"Do most people in La Push know him? I had a similar run-in with the secretary."

"Sort of, he had a gallery in Port Angeles recently so that's pretty much the cause. My aunt's a fan so she has a couple of his paintings hanging around the house. Can I see your sketchbook?"

The question, so simple and easily answered, brought Tabitha up short. It's not that she didn't want to show Skylar her artwork, but just that there were some specific drawings she didn't want her to see. Tabitha usually expressed her every feeling through her work, so there were some that were a bit too personal for her liking. She didn't want people to know she was a diabetic so soon and a lot of her recent drawings reflected her feelings about it. Tabitha nervously fiddled with the medic alert bracelet hidden by her black and white striped long shirt sleeve. Just for good measure, she pulled down the sleeve so she could hold the end with the palm of her hand.

"Umm, well, I don't think-"

"Morning class, sorry for the tardy," he chuckled, "maybe I should give myself detention for my continual ability to remain unpunctual."

Tabitha sighed in relief, saved by the teacher. She hadn't been this happy to see a class start in a long time. The teacher sat down at his desk, readjusting his glasses while reading a paper that had been placed there recently. "Well, it seems we have a novel addition to the class. Step up in front of the class young lady and introduce yourself if you please."

Gone was the happy feeling. She hadn't realized how glad she was that her previous teachers hadn't forced her to introduce herself until now. Public speaking was not one of her fortes. She dragged herself up from her seat and forced her feet to walk towards the front and face her impending doom; the crazy antsy feeling was back and it had returned with double the force. It tingled at her extremities, her fingertips were trembling slightly. _Please let it not be a sugar low. Don't fall, don't faint, be strong._ The young girl chanted it inside her mind – a mantra for the moment – as she stood in front of the students, numbering in a little over a dozen.

She looked down toward her flats, inspecting them as she spoke, letting her downward gaze cause her bangs to cover her eyes. Maybe if she didn't look directly at any of their imposing stares boring a hole into her she wouldn't stutter. "_Hola_, my name's Tabitha Katiria Greyson-Velasquez. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Well you certainly look refreshingly young, Ms. Greyson. Are you perhaps a sophomore?"

"No, I'm a junior, but I'm still fifteen, although I'll turn sixteen in December," she answered, still keeping her gaze to the floor all the while fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"And from where may ask does your lovely accent originate from?" inquired the teacher.

Tabitha had been hoping to get this over quickly but it seemed the teacher wanted to torture her a little longer. She'd barely even noticed she had an accent, but since she was nervous her words pulled up in strange places and her accent had become heavier.

"Puerto Rico, sir. It's a small tropical island in the Caribbean, ninety miles south of Florida."

"Ah, that's interesting and a long ways away – more than a thousand miles I believe. I'd ask you more but I'm afraid I don't want to end up being more intrusive than I already am. Feel free to keep your seat next to Ms. Young."

Tabitha felt her whole body relax in relief, she finally raised her gaze to take a peek at the class when she suddenly felt an urge to look at the back row. Staring back at her were the most warm brown she'd ever seen coming from a tall, muscular, looking boy akin to how Collin had looked. The intensity radiating from his returning gaze startled her, and it took all of her will to not run out of the classroom like a lunatic.

She quickly shuffled to her desk, wondering what the hell that was about and what the hell was up with herself. Tabitha could almost sense the heavy gaze on the back of her neck, urging her to look back. She wanted to look back - no, she needed to. This was madness! Shaking her head in order to clear her thoughts, she turned to Skylar, but she was looking towards the back of the class in the same direction she was trying to avoid.

Her expression was an outlandish and seemingly impossible mixture of unrelenting joy, good-humored reprimanding, and slight concern. Skylar was whispering something she couldn't comprehend to someone in the back, but that was crazy because no one had hearing amazing enough to understand what she was saying from so far.

Tabitha dared to look behind in the same direction of Skylar's gaze. It was the same boy as earlier, except this time he seemed to be directing his stare at any direction but hers.

_That was odd, _she thought,_ I could have sworn he had been staring at me…_

* * *

><p><em>Beep, beep.<em>

Collin had just been heading towards lunch when he felt his cellphone vibrating. He took the phone out of his pocket, looking at the small screen.

_**You have one message from Sky Angel**_

This peaked his curiosity since he was going to meet up with her shortly at the lunch table. What would be so urgent it couldn't wait? He hoped she was okay as he opened the message. His eyes widened as he read the words, comprehending, but momentarily unable to believe they were true. Nonetheless, he smiled, pleased for his friend. Collin decided the news had to be shared.

_Beep._

_**This message has been forwarded to Loony T**_

* * *

><p>Tara had been minding her own business, walking in the company of Brady as they headed towards the aromatic paradise that was lunch. Regardless if the food tasted like garbage that day didn't matter as long as something was filling her bottomless stomach. She took a sniff at the scent wafting through the halls.<p>

_~This place about to blooow! Blooooow!~_

"Oh fat Jesus!"

Tara forcefully fetched her phone out of her pants pocket, wondering who dared to interrupt her culinary fantasies.

_One message from Border Collie_

Her eyes quickly scanned over the message. It was short, straight, and to the point, but its content baffled no less. Tara's hands started to shake with a mixture of suppressed annoyance and anger. She knew something like this was coming, but it still tore her heart to think that yet one more important person in her life was snatched away by something that was supposedly "rare."

Brady gave her a bemused look before grabbing the phone out of her hands. His delighted expression was the complete opposite of hers. _Damn to hell those two words_, she thought. Tara snatched back the phone and sulkily glared at the words she refused to comprehend.

_**Seth imprinted**__._

* * *

><p>Hola, friendly and not so friendly readers of fanfiction! For those who give a damn, I'm so sorry for not having updated in a month. There's just this thing called <em>life<em> which involves University, education, and family problems that got in the way of me writing the next chapter. Sadly, I can't even blame it on social life, because I have none. I blame my professors for that...

Moving on, as always. Please review! Tell me what you liked/didn't like. Constructive criticism is strongly suggested and welcomed. It's helpful to know what I'm doing wrong so I can better my writing.

So what did you think of Collin? It's always harder to write out boys - ya know, since I'm a girl and all. Feel free to tell me what you think of Tabitha, Skylar, and Tara.

What were your favorite lines? Favorite scenes? What characters do you like so far? Predictions, anyone? What do you think is up with Tara?

For the record, Seth will show up in the next chapter. There's just this thing called setting the scene and character development that gets in the way.

Ugh, I've rambled enough. Feliz Navidad y Feliz A~o Nuevo for those who celebrate Christmas and New Year's! Happy everything else for those who don't!

Simply,

_ThatOneDiabeticGirl_


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